Lord Adonis: The Department for Education and Skills has made no direct estimate of the cost of educational under-achievement. However we know that individuals with no qualifications are more likely to be disadvantaged and face poorer life chances. That is why the department is committed to creating opportunity, releasing potential and achieving excellence for all.
	Academic research shows there is a link between educational achievement and economic performance. Sianesi and Van Reenan 1 (2003) state that a one-year increase in average education raises the level of output per capita by between 3 and 6 per cent, and skills enhance wages and improve employability. In 2004, 40 per cent. of individuals with no qualifications were inactive compared to only 10 per cent. of those with level 5 qualifications 2 . Improving the skills of workers also contributes to raising productivity. Recent research 3 estimates that, in terms of GDP per hour, 12 per cent. of the productivity gap with France and one-fifth of the gap with Germany is due to the UK's relatively low skills level.
	Other research has identified a range of wider benefits from raising qualification levels that are shared between individuals, employers, the economy and society. For example research by Feinstein (2002) has identified and quantified social benefits of learning for health(4) (depression and obesity) and crime(5).
	1 Sianesi, Barbara and Van Reenen, John Michael, "The Returns to Education: Macroeconomics". Journal of Economic Surveys, Vol. 17, pp. 157–200, April 2003.
	2 ONS Labour Force Summary: 1984:2005. 3 O'Mahony and de Boer (2002) Britain's relative productivity performance: updates to 1999 NIESR. (4) Feinstein (2002), Quantitative Estimates of the Social Benefits of Learning 2: Health (Depression and Obesity), Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning. (5) Feinstein (2002), Quantitative Estimates of the Social Benefits of Learning 1: Crime, Centre for the Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning.

Lord Bach: Since the Environment Agency (EA) was given responsibility for the management and enhancement of freshwater fisheries, the number of rod licences sold has increased by 26,000 per annum, from 1.01 million in 1995 to 1.27 million in 2005. The agency works with partners to provide 25,000 people a year with an introduction to angling. In addition, it has increased income from rod licences during this period from £11.7 million to £19.7 million.
	The Environment Agency works in partnership with fishery owners, rivers trusts, non-governmental organisations and regulated industry to improve fish stocks by improving the aquatic environment. Coarse fish are now present in 97 per cent. of monitored sites and a further 50 per cent. of sites have more than eight fish species present.
	Following the publication of the report of the independent Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Review Group in 2000, the EA increased its focus on developing the social and economic benefits of fisheries. For example, its work with the Welsh Assembly Government and Wales Tourist Board has resulted in an investment of some £2.5 million, creating an extra £27 million a year in income to the Welsh economy from angling tourism.
	The EA also delivers social benefits by working with the police and local communities to provide opportunities through angling to help deal with truancy and anti-social behaviour.

Lord Bach: The department is the UK "competent body" responsible for managing and promoting the EU eco-label in the UK, and we advertise it in several environmental magazines for business, as well as through Defra's website, which also explains our promotional strategy. We inform and consult relevant business organisations as each product group covered by the scheme is developed or revised. We provide a full range of promotional and explanatory material in response to the expressions of interest we receive about the label, and we meet with businesses, who are considering participating, to discuss how we can help them. We work closely with industry and tailor our approach to the relevant product group and the level of interest in it. For example, in the past year we have developed a user-friendly UK application pack for the scheme's label for tourist accommodation, and have promoted the label at green tourism events in Northern Ireland and Scotland. For next year we are updating Defra's "Shopper's Guide to Green Labels" which features the EU eco-label prominently. The new guide will be launched in the next few weeks to encourage greater interest and involvement in good green labelling schemes, and will be freely available to consumers and businesses.

Lord Warner: The Government have been in close communication with the European Commission regarding the impact of the Food Supplements Directive on the sale of products on the United Kingdom market and will continue to explore what further flexibility may be permitted.
	The Food Supplements Directive has applied in full since 1 August 2005. The impact of the directive on the UK market has been negligible in terms of the products available to the public. Substances which fall within the scope of the directive can continue to be used in food supplements providing a dossier of safety data has been submitted for assessment by the European Food Safety Authority and a derogation given by the relevant authority. Derogation has been given for over 400 substances used in supplements in the UK.

Lord Davies of Oldham: The largest number of instances for one operator was 10 out of the 128* vehicles found to be in breach of the drivers' hours regulations in the period from August to September 2005. The full breakdown is shown in the table.
	
		
			 Number of Breaches Number of Operators 
			 10 1 
			 7 1 
			 6 1 
			 4 2 
			 3 2 
			 2 14 
			 1 63 
		
	
	* As the data are a live system six further entries have been made since the data was originally presented.
	Officials from the UK Department for Transport and Vehicle and Operator Service Agency met with their counterparts from the Republic of Ireland in March of this year to discuss the condition and operation of Irish vehicles entering the UK. There has been a continuing dialogue since between officials, and Ministers have also been in contact. We are working together to help increase levels of understanding and. compliance by vehicle operators and their drivers.

Lord Drayson: British Armed Forces have used white phosphorus on Operation TELIC in Iraq primarily as a smoke screen to provide cover, and thus protection, for our soldiers or for target illumination. Although white phosphorus does have a recognised anti-personnel effect, we go to great lengths to ensure that civilian and non-combatants are not harmed during operations and guidelines issued to British military personnel on its use emphasise that it should not be deployed as an anti-personnel weapon. Information on the number of occasions it has been used by British Armed Forces in Iraq is not held centrally and can only be provided at disproportionate effort.

Lord Davies of Oldham: Section 192(1)(b) of the Licensing Act 2003 forms part of a definition of what is a "sale by retail" in relation to alcohol and therefore, of which sales of alcohol are licensable activities for the purposes of the 2003 Act. In essence, the definition includes all sales of alcohol except wholesale sales. Subparagraph (b) of Section 192(1) describes the premises from which a wholesale sale is made. This is one element of the description of a wholesale sale: the others are in Section 192(1)(a) and (c) and (2). If all of these elements are satisfied in relation to a particular sale, the sale qualifies as a wholesale sale and as such is not a licensable activity.
	To meet the requirement in Section 192(1)(b) the premises in question must be owned by the person making the sale or occupied by him under a lease to which the provisions of Part 2 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 apply. The 1954 Act broadly gives business tenants security of tenure: a statutory right to remain in their business premises when their lease ends and to seek a new tenancy. For example, some public houses are operated by individuals under tenancies of this kind. So in essence the requirement is that the sale be made from premises the seller either owns as a freeholder, or occupies as a business tenant. The other requirements referred to above must also of course be satisfied. Sales from premises occupied by the seller as a residential tenant or licensee could therefore never qualify as wholesale sales. They would always be licensable, unless some other exception in the 2003 Act applied.
	There are two essential purposes of Section 192 of the 2003 Act. The first is to change the position which existed prior to 24 November 2005 whereby sales of alcohol in wholesale quantities to ordinary members of the public did not give rise to a requirement for a justices' licence under the terms of the Licensing Act 1964. Since 24 November sales by retail of alcohol to members of the public has been a licensable activity regardless of the quantity being sold. Secondly, the section provides that for the purposes of the 2003 Act, a sale by retail of alcohol made to any of those listed in subsection 192(2) from any premises described in subsection 192(1)(b) for the purpose of being consumed off those premises is not to be treated as a licensable activity. This is primarily to preserve the position under the old law whereby sales of alcohol within the trade are not to be regarded as licensable sales.

Lord Davies of Oldham: The strategic review of the National Film and Television Archive undertaken by the British Film Institute was conducted in full consultation with the UK Film Council and the Department for Culture Media and Sport. The review was set up specifically to address the issues raised by the National Audit Office, in its report on the archive in 2003 (a copy of which is available in the House Library). As a result of the review, a number of significant changes have been made, including improvements to storage conditions, to ensure that the nation's film heritage continues to be preserved and protected.

Lord Selsdon: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	In what circumstances officials of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and of public bodies answerable to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, can search and enter the homes or business premises of United Kingdom citizens; and, in each case, what is the statutory authority for that power.

The Countess of Mar: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What action they are taking to take advantage of modern technologies such as genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics and metabolomics as advocated by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution in their report Crop Spraying and the Health of Residents and Bystanders.